The portfolio is primarily responsible for the management of the budget of the European Union and related financial issues except for budgetary discharge which falls under the Admin Commissioner.

Janusz Lewandowski was the European Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget as part of the Barroso Commission II.

His predecessor was Algirdas Šemeta, who in turn succeeded fellow Lithuanian Dalia Grybauskaitė.

There would be an increase in cohesion funds, energy and transport of 14%, research by 11% and lifelong learning by 9%.

There would also be an increase in the administrative budget, aid to Kosovo and Palestinian institutions and funds towards the Galileo project.